by Raven Steele
I lowered my head, knowing he was right, but feeling anything but comfortable with it. "I'll find him tonight."
"He'll be waiting for you on the top balcony at the Devil's Playground at 11:00."
"How do you know that?"
"It doesn't matter. Just get going."
"Before I leave," I asked, my voice lowering, "How does Emma seem? Is she happy?"
"She's restless. She doesn't like being cooped up and feeling helpless. It worries me."
"If my meeting with Victor is short, I’ll try and visit her when she gets off work."
"I think that would be wise. She's asking a lot of questions about your whereabouts. It may be time you told her the truth."
"When the time is right. I'll check in with you later." I left before he could say anything else about the matter. I was nowhere near telling Emma the truth about me. I liked the arrangement we had right now.
I surfaced near the entrance of Pigtown, feeling more agitated than usual. Probably because of my meeting with Victor. I knew Roman was right. I had to up my game, but I just hated the fact that I needed Victor to do it. I kicked at a nearby dumpster, making it jump several feet.
Turning the corner onto the street, I weaved my way through the hordes of vampires and humans with no clear direction where I was going. A vampire, in the middle of handing money to a tall man, stepped back and bumped me. I shoved him to the ground, growling. I fully expected him to fight me, something I really needed right now, but he barely glanced my way. He brushed himself off, picked up the dollar bills from off the street, and handed them to the stunned human. Whatever he was paying for was far more important than my insult.
I inhaled, a conscious choice, and the smell of human blood punched me in the gut. It was everywhere, just hanging in the air like ripe apples waiting to be plucked. I strolled the orchard, breathing humans in and tasting their scents.
A small voice in my head berated me for tempting myself like this. I had been good for so long. Maybe the worst of my bloodlust had passed, and I could drink from the vein now. Even though I was technically a new vampire, I had old blood in me. This may be a theory worth testing. Besides, it didn't mean I had to kill a human for it.
I didn’t have to kill.
This thought started out small, but the more I entertained it, the idea grew stronger and more insistent until I convinced myself it was the perfect plan. It was in my nature, after all. Plus, I wouldn’t be hurting them, not really. I could even compel them to forget our encounter. And I’d only take a little. Just enough to wet my tongue. It would come from the worst of the worst of society. Maybe a drug dealer or a pimp. Pigtown was full of them. I could choose ten different ones and still have plenty more. I would be doing the city a favor, even if they did die.
I chuckled at my new plan, surprised I hadn’t thought of it sooner.
Stepping into the entryway of a store that had closed hours ago, I hid in the shadows and watched humans and vampires alike roam the streets. There was an order to it all, and vampires were at the top, stalking the ones they considered beneath them. I squirmed in my cramped spot, realizing I was doing the same.
Across the street, I spotted a human pimp leaning into the open window of a vehicle parked on the curb. I trained my hearing in his direction. The pimp was negotiating terms with two men sitting in the front seat. It took me a second to realize those men were vampires. The vampires handed over several hundreds of dollars and said they would triple the fee if he could come up with more, fresh girls.
The pimp stepped back a few steps into a crowd of three women. He grabbed the shortest of the three and shoved her forward. She reluctantly opened the back door of the car and slipped inside. I was already crossing the street, as they drove away.
I approached the pimp and smiled.
"You look like a guy who wants to have some fun," he said to me, but as I drew closer, and he saw something he didn’t like in my eyes, he stumbled a step. He cleared his throat and straightened again, trying to hide his fear, but I could smell it on him as strong as the smell of his blood, which reeked of onions and beer.
"I have very different tastes," I said. "Your girls will not do."
"You're into kinky shit, huh? I think I may have something for you."
"Let me be the judge of that."
He looked me up and down, a glance that months ago might've meant he was deciding if I was a cop or not, but the police had stopped patrolling these streets. He probably was trying to decide how much money I had.
"I will pay extremely well if you have what I want," I assured him.
"Right this way," he said.
He walked a block down the street and into the door of a tall apartment building. He entered an elevator with me close behind. The scent of his blood crowded the narrow space. It wasn’t the most pleasant smell, like a can of beer that had been sitting out for a few days, but I would take it. I had to have it.
Before he could blink, I shoved him against the wall and sunk my teeth into his salty-tasting flesh. Warm blood flowed into my mouth, tingling as it coated my throat. I moaned and drank more, practically shattering inside at how exquisite the taste was. How had I gone so long without it?
He struggled against me, but after a few seconds, he relaxed. Then went limp.
Chapter 20
I leaped away from him and stared down at his body. My mouth fell open, releasing a trickle of blood from my lips and down my chin. I could just barely make out the beat of his heart. He was dying. Did I care? He was as much a criminal as the vampires were. If he lived, he’d just return to his lucrative employment.
I stepped off the elevator. I didn’t care. A year ago, I would’ve taken him to the police, but they were gone just like my desire to save every human regardless of their crime.
The elevator doors closed behind me. I leaned against the wall opposite of it, trying to catch my breath. Already my stomach felt better, but I still craved more. I also craved a fight.
I glanced down the hall and surveyed all the doors, wondering where the pimp might have been taking me to. I walked up and down and listened to sounds beyond the walls. At the last door, I detected the distinct smell of vampires. I reached into my jacket pocket and withdrew two daggers. I stuffed them up my sleeves and knocked on the door.
A human answered it and peered out into the hall behind me. "Where's Jimmy?"
"He told me to come on up without him."
The man quickly reached behind his back and removed a gun. He pointed it at my head. "Jimmy wouldn't do that."
Before he could pull the trigger, I jerked the gun from him and snapped it in half. I took hold of his head and rammed it into the side of the doorjamb, knocking him unconscious. I stepped over his body into a small entryway.
I expected several vampires to attack me at once, but no one came. When I entered the living room, I found out why. A dozen humans sat in what looked like salon chairs, their arms hanging limply at their sides. A vampire was on each arm, drinking freely. The sight and smell of it brought on a powerful wave of hunger that shook my body, and it took all the strength I had not to join them. Humans, most of them probably innocent, were suffering. I couldn’t be a part of that.
I realigned my focus and, in less than a minute, had killed every vampire in the room. I examined the humans. They were all alive and mostly unharmed, but groggy. The vampires had probably given them something to keep them still. I stepped toward the closest one, my mouth salivating.
"It's hard to resist, isn't it?"
I whirled around, my mind instantly sharpening. A familiar face stood in the doorway. "Hacksaw?"
He was the fighter I had fought at the Devil's Playground months ago. The guy was massive with bulging muscles and an impressive right hook. I had thought there was something different about him then, and I sensed it now too. I inhaled, instantly knowing what he was now that my senses were heightened. "You’re a shifter."
"In a vampire city. Doesn't make sense, does it?"
"What do you want?" I asked, keeping a close eye on his movements.
“Bastian wants to meet with you."
"Not going to happen."
"He will be disappointed."
"Tell him to get used to it." I attempted to leave the apartment, but Hacksaw blocked my way. "Let me pass."
He eyed me up and down and sniffed the air. "It's exactly like they said. You're a full vampire now with a normal brain. We are very interested to know how that is possible."
"What’s it to you?"
"All of our tests in attempting the same thing have failed, so what makes you so special?" He reached to touch me as if that would tell him something, but I knocked his hand away.
"What is a shifter doing in a vampire city anyway?" I asked.
"When your own kind shuns you, you go to the next best place."
It was my turn to look him up and down. "You must've done something pretty terrible."
The corner of his mouth turned up. "I don't regret it for a second."
I debated whether to fight him right here and now, a battle I knew would come eventually, but I worried for the humans who might get caught up in the fray.
"Tell Bastian I'm not his servant and will not be beckoned." I shoved him aside and left the building.
It rattled me a little to know that twice in one night I had been surprised by someone all because of my obsession with blood. I had to be careful. Maybe if I had more, my mind would become clearer. It was a fine line. Too much and I'd end up how I was weeks ago, lying in the middle of the forest helpless as a babe. I needed to find the balance.
On my way out, I called Rebecca and told her about the humans upstairs. "Should I let the police know?"
"They won't know what to do. I'll take care of it."
"Thank you. I’ll reach out to you later tonight. Oh, and Rebecca? There’s a shifter working with Bastian.”
I could practically hear her thinking on the other end. "What's his name?"
"I only know him by his boxing name, Hacksaw. He said he was shunned by his own kind."
There was silence on the other end.
"Rebecca?"
"I have to go." She hung up before I could get in another word. It made me wonder if she knew him somehow.
I arrived at the Devil's Playground thirty minutes early. Not much had changed since I was here last. Lights still pulsed across the ceiling and music blared out dozens of speakers. A bar that stretched almost the length of the whole, long room was packed with people. What did surprise me, however, was the absence of vampires. Everywhere else had them. Why should this place be any different?"
I scanned the club until I spotted Jordan sitting at the bar, cradling a tall beer. I weaved through the crowd and dropped onto a stool next to him. He glanced at me briefly and then returned to stare at the glass. "Victor's not here yet."
I looked through the club again. "How come there are no vampires?"
"Part of the deal Victor made with Bastian. Since Victor controls the day, he's allowed certain privileges others aren't. As far as I know, this is the only place humans can go that’s vampire free."
“So Victor is pretty close with Bastian?"
He shrugged. "Only because he has to. If it’s not him, it would be someone else."
"Convenient answer."
The bartender came over and asked if I wanted anything. I shooed him away with a glance.
"You have no idea what kind of pressure Victor is under,” Jordan said. He had dark circles under his pale blue eyes. “He’s trying to keep everything together, but there's only so much he can do before they realize what he’s really doing."
"And what’s that exactly?"
He returned to the drink in his hand. "I'll let him tell you."
He was afraid for Victor, that much was evident. Whatever Victor got himself into, Jordan didn't think Victor was likely to get out of it.
A phone buzzed on the counter in front of him. He glanced down at it and then looked up at the balcony on the other side of the room. "He's here."
I followed his line of sight spotting Victor staring at us with his hands gripping the arm rail tight. I could see the whites of his knuckles through the darkness.
I made my way up the stairs, having to push aside several entwined couples. Victor met me halfway and asked, "How's Emma?"
"Safe."
He glanced into the swarm of humans below us and settled into a seat at a nearby table. He motioned me to do the same.
I hesitated briefly before joining him. This felt all kinds of wrong. I clenched my hands tight and resisted the urge to slash his throat wide open, spilling his blood onto the table in front of me. I shivered at the thought, whether from revolution or pleasure I wasn’t sure.
"Thank you for meeting me,” he said, his voice low.
"Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act all nice. I can’t stomach it. If you want me to work with you, then be the monster you are.”
His nostrils flared, and his gaze turned hard. He slammed his fist on the table making it bounce. “Don’t pretend you know me. We both know there’s only one true monster sitting at this table and it’s not me. I can smell human blood on your breath.”
He turned away, breathing hard.
I leaned forward and gripped the table until my nails dug into the wooden veneer. “You dare call me a monster when you have killed and ruined the lives of countless of people?”
He returned his gaze slowly to mine, anger replaced by … was that sadness?
“There is a special place reserved for people like me,” he said. “But your name hasn’t been added to the guest list. Yet. You need to pull it together. You are the only chance this city has against the Principes Noctis.”
"What do you want?" I asked, wanting to get as far away from him as soon as possible.
"I hear you're looking for where they're creating new vampires, and how they’re replicating men like us." He frowned. "Or how I am. I still haven't figured out how you became a vampire."
"How did you know I was looking?" I asked, ignoring his last words. Both my enemies appeared to be interested in how I became a vampire. That was one secret I never planned on revealing.
He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Look, I have someone within Bastian's inner circle. She's willing to turn on him if we can take him out."
"Inner circle? I thought you were already a part of that."
His expression hardened. "Bastian is careful to keep me out of Principes Noctis business."
"What makes you think you can trust someone close to him?”
He brought his hands in front of him, fisting them tight. "Look, I'm as hesitant as you are, maybe more so. I'm just out of options here. The Principes Noctis are up to something, and it's not good."
I leaned toward him. "Why haven’t you turned on them already? Especially if you claim to hate them so much.”
"If I did that, then you will have lost any connection to them. I may not know everything about the Principes Noctis, but I know more than most. Knowledge is power in this game.”
I searched his eyes. So far, I suspected no deceit, but he was also a criminal mastermind. "Tell me what you know."
“My contact recently gave me information about Richard. I’ve been looking for him for some time.”
“We found paperwork that indicated he’s still working with V proteins to create V blood.”
"That’s correct. They’ve been using him to duplicate the same V proteins that are inside of us, and then they inject it into humans. Many have died, but the ones who have survived often don’t turn out right. They are either crazy or deformed. I suspect that has something to do with Elizabeth Bathory’s blood not mixing well with their DNA. Basically, it's a shit show over there. The ones who are somewhat normal are released into the care of other vampires to act as guards for them during the day."
"Where are they keeping Richard and the humans?” I asked.
"You
know the old hospital on the north side of town? The one that's been empty for the last twenty years?"
I nodded, remembering well. That place was abandoned when my father had given the city a lot of money to build a newer, much nicer, hospital.
"Well, it's not empty now. I was told they are holding Richard there. I tried to gain access this week, but I'm not allowed."
"And you think I can get in?"
"You're one of them now. Sneak in. I used to be able to detect you, but not anymore. You've changed." He turned his head away, looking thoughtful. "If there really are crazy, mutated humans in that hospital, they need to be destroyed. I've already run across a couple of them that I took out myself, but according to my intel, there are dozens more. Could you imagine what they would do to the city if they are released?"
"Let's say I go in and kill these mutations. How do I know this isn't a trap for me?"
Victor huffed and leaned back in his seat, shaking his head. "Go scout it out for yourself. I'm done trying to convince you."
"Fair enough, but if I even suspect you are deceiving me, I will kill you."
He looked me square in the eyes. "I believe you will kill me one day. And when that day comes, I will let you. God knows I deserve it."
He pushed up from the table, reached into his pocket and handed me a small card. "Here's my number if you ever need it. The other weird communication shit where I call your name in the middle of the park is stupid." He turned to leave, but at the last second looked back at me. “Oh, and as for new vampires being made, you might want to check out the airport. There’s some funny business going on there. My men and I aren’t allowed anywhere near it.”
He turned and walked away, leaving me to the flashing lights and the blaring sounds. He walked down the stairs and over to the bar where he tapped Jordan on the shoulder. He motioned for them to leave and together they got up and left the place.
I picked up his card. I think he was telling the truth, but I had to be smart and confirm his story. If I was going to work with Victor, I needed to do it with my eyes wide open.
I glanced down at the time. It was almost midnight. Emma would be getting off from work soon with Rebecca walking her home. Maybe when they returned, I would take Rebecca and scout out the hospital.
